Articles in Journals by Francesca Blanch-Serrat
ACH: Age, Culture, and Humanities, 2021
Anna Seward (1742-1809) made detailed plans toward her posthumous legacy in the last decades of h... more Anna Seward (1742-1809) made detailed plans toward her posthumous legacy in the last decades of her life through the compilation and editing of her poetical works and letter books, as well as the negotiations for their publication. In having her life’s work and correspondence published after her death, Seward challenged societal and literary expectations already subverted by publishing in advanced age and asserted the value of her own production and, by extension, her literary authority, at the end of her career. While this is a known claim, this article aims to go further and examine this material and its reception from the perspective of age studies in order to ascertain what roles gender and old age played in both Seward’s self-presentation in this compilation and in the failure of her act of self-canonization. For this purpose, this article investigates the intersection of gender, marital status, and old age (the triple-layered “old maidism”) in eighteenth-century perceptions of age and aging, and questions how that intersection affected her work’s editorial process and its reception. To do so, the article addresses Walter Scott’s and Archibald Constable’s—her editor and publisher, respectively—treatments of the material and of the detailed instructions Seward left them in her will. Finally, it assesses the reception of the posthumously published works in three periodicals of the time: The Critical Review, the British Review and London Critical Journal, and The Monthly Review.
Enthymema, 2023
In 1780 the English translator and essayist Eliza Ball Hayley (b.1750-1797) published Essays on F... more In 1780 the English translator and essayist Eliza Ball Hayley (b.1750-1797) published Essays on Friendship and Old-Age, by the Marchioness de Lambert. The text was a translation of two of the many philosophical treatises written by the French philosopher Anne-Thérèse de Lambert (1647-1733). Addressing the chronological, linguistic, and geographical distance between the authors and their philosophical thought, this article examines the motivations behind Hayley’s translation, regarding them as an act of resistance to the predominant contemporary male intellectual discourse, dismissive of de Lambert’s influence. Furthermore, it suggests that through the act of translating, Hayley is in fact recovering de Lambert and her (gendered) contribution to the history of ideas, while in parallel she is asserting her own place within this intellectual continuum by benefiting from de Lambert’s legacy, and thus contributing to, and sustaining, a female genealogy of thought.
ES REVIEW, 2019
In 1786 an anonymous correspondent appealed to Samuel Johnson’s biographer James Boswell in the... more In 1786 an anonymous correspondent appealed to Samuel Johnson’s biographer James Boswell in the pages of the Gentleman’s Magazine. Behind the pseudonym Benvolio was Anna Seward (1742‒1809), one of the prominent poetical voices of Britain at the time. From 1786‒87 and 1793‒94, Seward and Boswell engaged in a public and gradually acrimonious dispute over Johnson’s reputation. This article argues that at the core of the debates was Seward’s assertion of her literary and critical authority, and I contend that age and gender played key roles in Boswell’s dismissal of Seward’s claim
Doctoral Dissertation by Francesca Blanch-Serrat
Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB, 2021
Anna Seward (1742-1809) was an English intellectual, poet, and literary critic. Once celebrated a... more Anna Seward (1742-1809) was an English intellectual, poet, and literary critic. Once celebrated as "th'immortal muse of Britain" (1811:147), she held a central position both within her native Lichfield's thriving cultural life and amongst a nationwide network of intellectuals, artists, and scientists in the second half of the eighteenth century. This thesis examines Seward's sense of authorial self at the intersection between gender, age, and singlehood, and investigates how these identity markers both informed the author's self-presentation and affected her critical reception in old age. Seward's intellectual contributions have been overlooked in favour of her poetical works and of her relationships with the male literarians in her circle. This thesis addresses this critical gap by approaching Seward's contributions and role as a central figure in the changing literary landscape at the turn of the century, and focuses on a corpus comprising a trans-genre selection of her later-career works that includes misattributed, unpublished, and understudied material. The close-reading analysis and contextualisation of this corpus showcases the author's public self-assertion as a writer and literary critic in contemporary key debates; her ability to retain control over her public image against a literary market that was hostile against elderly women writers; and her enduring impact in the last segment of her career, situating her as an influential figure for the Romantic generation. Using a critical framework that combines literary studies, gender studies, and (old) age studies, this analysis seeks to bring to the fore the relationship between Sew
Conference papers by Francesca Blanch-Serrat
Chapters in Books by Francesca Blanch-Serrat
Chapter in "Persistence and Resistance in English Studies
New Research", Cambridge Scholars, 2018
Book Reviews by Francesca Blanch-Serrat
ACH: Age, Culture, and Humanities, 2022
Thesis by Francesca Blanch-Serrat
This degree thesis analyses of the emotional strains experienced by both Lord Byron and Charlotte... more This degree thesis analyses of the emotional strains experienced by both Lord Byron and Charlotte Turner Smith during their time abroad. Exile is a refuge from the past they are both escaping, but they are unable to detach themselves from the mother land. Their poetic compositions allow us an insight into this internal fight. I have chosen to undertake a close reading of Lord Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage (1818) and Smith’s The Emigrants (1793). Whereas for Byron the emigrant is a reactive character, aggressive and exclusive, constantly in search for a new ‘Patria’ to defend and live for, for Charlotte Smith emigration is inclusive, a social rather than a personal phenomenon that is also tied to symbols of femininity.
Zofloya, or the Moor (Charlotte Dacre, 1806) upsets any binary representation of erotic power as... more Zofloya, or the Moor (Charlotte Dacre, 1806) upsets any binary representation of erotic power as feminine passivity versus masculine violence. My Master’s Dissertation seeks to explore the representation of femininity in Victoria’s character and her resort to violence as a mode of self-assertion. As the trail of corpses along her way grows, how and why is Victoria de-feminized in the eyes of the reader? Any tentative answer to these questions, through my analysis of Zofloya and its reception, will inform the construction of Dacre’s representation of femininity, female sexual desire and power in ways that engage with the Gothic genre.
Other written contributions by Francesca Blanch-Serrat
Encyclopædia Britannica, 2019
The Wordsworth Trust
Childe Harold, Lord Byron and the poetic exile.
Lord Byron left England in April 1816 after he and his wife Annabella Milbanke had begun separati... more Lord Byron left England in April 1816 after he and his wife Annabella Milbanke had begun separation proceedings. The whole of English society had risen with a commotion over Byron’s alleged misconduct toward Lady Byron and his presumed incestuous relationship with his half-sister Augusta Leigh. Those who up to that moment had regarded the poet as an amusing, exotic, unapologetic character now rebuffed him. Byron, haunted by scandal and debt, and ostracized by his fellow Englishmen, sailed for Belgium. He was never to return home.
Ada Lovelace was born a celebrity. The only legitimate daughter of the mad, bad and dangerous-to-... more Ada Lovelace was born a celebrity. The only legitimate daughter of the mad, bad and dangerous-to-know Lord Byron and his wife, Annabella Milbanke, came into the world on December 10, 1815...
Charlotte Turner Smith (1749-1806) is known for her sentimental novels and for being the hand tha... more Charlotte Turner Smith (1749-1806) is known for her sentimental novels and for being the hand that brought back the sonnet. She managed to live solely by the pen, but her literary incursions where never limited to her –many- financial needs. She had a remarkable literary involvement in the French Revolution, and always remained true to her political and moral beliefs. In this article, I will analyse her long poem The Emigrants (1793) to see how, through poetry, Smith managed to come to terms with her past and the emotional strains of forced exile.
Cada segon dimarts d'Octubre se celebra el dia d'Ada Lovelace (ALD). La tradició, iniciada el 200... more Cada segon dimarts d'Octubre se celebra el dia d'Ada Lovelace (ALD). La tradició, iniciada el 2009 per Suw Charman-Anderson, periodista experta en social software, blogger, i feminista, va néixer amb l'objectiu de celebrar, reconèixer i impulsar la presència femenina en les branques científiques, tecnològiques, d'enginyeria i matemàtiques, el que es coneix en el món anglosaxó com a STEM (en català, CTEM)...
Conference Presentations by Francesca Blanch-Serrat
Distance 2020: International Postgraduate Conference, 2020
Anna Seward (1742-1809) and Helen Maria Williams (1761-1827) were known by their contemporaries a... more Anna Seward (1742-1809) and Helen Maria Williams (1761-1827) were known by their contemporaries as “th’immortal muse of Britain” and “an intemperate advocate of Gallic licentiousness” respectively; Seward was celebrated for her patriotic elegies while Williams was criticized for her chronicles on the French Revolution. Despite such opposed reputations, examining Seward’s surviving letters to Williams—1781-1793, a period encompassing the conclusion of the American revolution up until the Terror in France— will evidence how they negotiated their relationship notwithstanding physical and ideological distance. Furthermore, it will elucidate how they navigated their intellectual exchanges at a time when politics was a male arena.
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Articles in Journals by Francesca Blanch-Serrat
Doctoral Dissertation by Francesca Blanch-Serrat
Conference papers by Francesca Blanch-Serrat
Chapters in Books by Francesca Blanch-Serrat
Book Reviews by Francesca Blanch-Serrat
Thesis by Francesca Blanch-Serrat
Other written contributions by Francesca Blanch-Serrat
Conference Presentations by Francesca Blanch-Serrat